Archive for July, 2013

With the economy in such poor condition and with little signs of improvement in the near future, these are my findings and personal results from myself and other seasoned vendors I have spoken with. These seasoned vendors have an average of 25 years experience selling at flea markets and have had the same results this year. Buyers or mall walkers? Seems like most markets are seeing more and more mall walkers and less buyers. The poor economy is affecting everything. There is nothing we can do about this except to be creative with marketing.

1. Make sure you have enough merchandise displayed to draw the attention of buyers. Example: Say you sell car chargers for cell phones. Today there are only a few to sell: Smart phones and I-Phones. Even if you put out 25 of each, that isn’t enough to draw attention to buyers. Add pouches, sell used, working, clean phones, bundle older car chargers in 12 pieces per unit with velcro strap and display on bright cloth covers like orange or yellow on your tables. It draws attention.

2. Move and reset your merchandise up differently each week.

3. Consider having other merchandise to change out every week or two so people think you have different things to sell.

4. Use 3’x5’ flags of your choice on PVC 8’ high poles strapped to your tent to draw attention. This is a must have today.

5. Move around every week to other larger markets where the same buyers do not see you every week. Your income will increase if you are selling items people want and need.

6. Do not lower your selling price to make sales. Working for free is not what professional seasoned flea market sellers do. Many non-professionals will do this out of desperation and lose more money.

7. Remember you make your money when you buy, not when you sell. Buy merchandise at the right price and sell below what brick and mortar stores charge. You will win all the time. Example: Buy 100 V-9 Smart Phone chargers at $1.04 – $1.15 delivered and sell them at $9.00 each. That is 800%-900% profit. Phone stores sell them at $35 each so your selling price is a bargain. However, you will get some buyers that want them cheaper. Just tell them this is a flea market and not a free market. Tell them to go to the phone store and pay $35.

8. Income this year on the average was 30% to 40% less than in 2012 from a survey of 25 professional vendors in June and July of 2013. Except for produce vendors — they claim an increase in sales even after they increased their prices by 33%. That is questionable.

9. Now is the time to get more creative if you want to make more sales. It will help.